Sprayway outdoor coats, great for keeping warm and dry in country and city

A city break in Edinburgh was the perfect place to test these stylish, warm and waterproof Sprayway coats, via Blacks online. Penny and husband put them through their paces…

I was drawn to Sprayway coats via the company history, but there is an obvious cool factor in their high performance outdoor clothing too.

Ordinary beginnings often give rise to revolutionaries. 1974 and in a garage in Chorlton, Manchester two competitive dinghy sailing enthusiasts begin making performance clothing to fill a void in the climbing market. Little did they know that forty years later their bold enterprise would become one of Britain’s leading outdoor clothing companies.

As I shared my packing for Edinburgh on social media, lots of people chimed in that I was going to need lots of woolies. I think we were pretty lucky with the weather, we’ve had a very mild Autumn so far, but Edinburgh weather was defintely a taste of the Winter to come.

I chose my Willow Parka to be warm and dry for serious family adventures in the countryside, as a blanket for muddy dog walks, a duvet on winter school runs, but it also doesn’t look out of place in the city.

This was taken in Leith, previously an industrial harbour and now very trendy part of Edinburgh, full of restaurants and art galleries. You can see the Malmaison Hotel where we stayed in the background, see the little white lighthouse? It’s the castle like building behind that.

Sprayway outdoor coats, great for keeping warm and dry in country and city

Back to keeping warm while sightseeing, I love a parka with a furry hood. It also has flexible inner sleeve lining in the cuffs that makes a windproof seal for your wrists, no drafts up your arms. The pockets are deep and great for stashing maps, keys, snacks and even my camera on occasion. It has an inside phone pocket too. The furry lining is super snug.

The Sprayway Willow Parka is fully lined with an exclusive Exo therm 200 hi-fleece which seals in valuable body heat for uncompromised cold weather protection. This cosy lining is combined with 2 Layer Hydro-dry breathable fabric which sheds rain and snow effectively.

Leith was a great place to hang out as a family, plenty to amuse the kids, lots of space to let off steam and being by the water in Edinburgh was a new experience for me.

Blacks Sprayway Coat

My husband chose very wisely, and given I often find winter coats too warm, I think this might have been a better choice for me too. He picked a Men’s Crag 3 in 1 Jacket in green, which means it has a fleece layer you can remove. You can wear the black fleece on it’s own, wear the jacket on it’s own, or put fleece and jacket together for winter. Layering is so practical and lightweight, it means once you have a great outdoor coat, you have it whatever the season.

Sprayway outdoor coats, great for keeping warm and dry in country and city

He won the city break coat contest, this was so easy to tie round the waist or fold a layer back in the rucksack when inside warm museums and galleries.

Sprayway outdoor coats, great for keeping warm and dry in country and city

The fully waterproof shell is constructed from exclusive 2 Layer Hydro-dry fabric which sheds the heaviest downpours with ease and has an interactive zip which allows you to zip-in the fleece layer when you need more protection.

The only drawback he could come up with to this three in one, is that there is only an inside pocket in the fleece and not the jacket itself.

However, he really liked the great colour, that it is warm and stylish, with a hood.

 

The photos were taken in Leith, Edinburgh, close to The Malmaison where we stayed in for our 3 day family city break, do check out the itinerary in that post and find our more about how we got on at Malmaison. Afterwards we visited the Royal Yacht Britannia, which is docked in Ocean Drive.

Need to Know

Both coats are available from Blacks online @blacks_online

Click the links for more information on:

Holidays in Scotland – Visit Scotland @VisitScotland

Holidays in Edinburgh

Holidays in Skye

Royal Yacht Britannia

Malmaison Edinburgh

Any questions? Tweet  @pennyalexander_